Whitson Gordon

Being a geek in a world of "non-tech-savvy" people can get frustrating, but it has its advantages on April Fools' Day. Here are some of our favorite geeky pranks you can play on your unsuspecting co-workers and friends tomorrow.

These pranks range from little or no setup to some slightly more involved, so no matter how much time you have on your hands, you can get a few laughs out of your coworkers and friends. We've mentioned a few of these before, but they never go out of style—and we've also added some new ones to the mix if your coworkers are already wise to the rest.

Since the dawn of time, geeks have been playing harmless pranks on their beloved (but unsuspecting) …
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Crack Your Victim's Monitor with a Wallpaper Change

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If you're short on time, a quick wallpaper switch can provide for a few funny moments. From the classic cracked screen wallpaper to the horrifying iOS 3 on your iPad, you have quite a few choices at your disposal. Another favorite is to take a screenshot of their desktop, set it as the desktop, and then hide their icons and taskbar. Everything will look normal, but nothing will respond to any mouse clicks. Alternatively, you can take a screenshot of their desktop, set it as their wallpaper, move some icons around, and take another screenshot. Repeat until you have a very cluttered desktop, with only a few icons that actually work! (shown above).

The dreaded Spinning Beachball of Death doesn't really exist in Apple's mobile OS. But…
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Give Their PC the Blue Screensaver of Death

Thankfully, Microsoft has gotten in on the joy of pranking and provided a very realistic, platform-detecting screensaver that mimics the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Just wait for your coworkers to take a break, and watch them freak out when all of a sudden their computer "appears" to restart to a blue screen. Mac and Linux users can get similar pranks from the BSOD X screen saver. Photo by Taber Andrew Bain.

Control their Computer From Afar

Another oldie-but-a-goodie is to install a VNC client on your coworker's computer, then control it from your own—they'll have no idea why the mouse is moving by itself, starting up applications, and typing creepy messages on their screen. You can control both Windows PCs with VNC and Macs with TightVNC. If you're both on Macs, you can just use OS X's built-in remote access setting to do the same thing.

Obviously, VNC can require a bit more setup than the above choices. If you only have a few seconds to set up the prank, you can alternatively just stick a wireless mouse and keyboard receiver in the back of their computer, and control it from your desk.

Use Text Expansion to Replace Common Words

A popular April Fools' geek trick is changing the autocorrect on your friend's copy of Microsoft Word, so that when they type common words like "the", they get something else. This can be a long humorous phrase, a misspelling ("teh"), or even changing all their question marks to exclamation points. This is easy enough to do in Word by going to Tools > Autocorrect Options, but if you can install some extra software on their computer, using a text expander could provide all day long hilarity, since it will change those words in all applications, not just Word.

Start Phone Calls Between Two People

Here's a fun trick - download Skype and set up a conference call by calling two of your friends simultaneously. They'll both answer and be thoroughly convinced that the other has called them. While you sit there at your computer trying to hold back laughter (or with your microphone muted), you can listen to them try and figure out what the hell is going on. If they chalk it up to an accidental speed-dial and hang up, keep calling them and hilarity will ensue.

Gizmodo's got the full lowdown on how to set it up, but all you really need is a bit of SkypeOut credit and a sinister plan to get two people to "call" one another—how sinister it gets is up to you. If you aren't feeling evil tomorrow, you could always just ring all the phones in your office at the same time instead.

Here's an old gem of a trick for anyone feeling lonely, vindictive, or very drunk this New…
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Get People Talking to Themselves at the Copy Machine

This is a super easy one—the DIYers over at ShenandoahWireless.net came up with some authentic-looking upgrade notices for a number of popular printer and copiers stating that they now have support voice commands. Stick them in the tray or tape them up above the printer and see who bites.

Of course, if you have a bit more time, you can always go for the previously mentioned change HP printer messages, trick too.

Flummox your coworkers with an "Insert Coin" message on the office printer using the HP…
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Send them Fake Windows Popup Messages

Sadly, the previously mentionednet send command is no longer built-in to Windows, but there are some 3rd-party alternatives like Sent that will let you to send messages to other computers on the network, in the form of very real-looking Windows popups. Of course, you'll need to be able to install a Sent-compatible client program on your coworker's computer for this to work.

Once installed, however, you can change your computer's name to something official sounding like "Microsoft" and send your coworkers messages ranging from the humorous ("Microsoft has detected 532 GB of porn on this computer. This incident will be reported") to the downright scary ("Microsoft has detected a trojan on your system. All saved and unsaved work will be lost."). All you need to know is your unsuspecting coworker's IP address or computer name.

Put the Troll Face Inside Someone's Monitor

This one takes a bit more time, but the effort is well worth it, since this one will undoubtedly keep your friends and coworkers wondering not only how you did it, but how to get rid of it. You'll actually have to take apart their monitor and stick in a piece of transparent paper with the troll face on it, but the end result is hilarious—the face will just constantly be on their monitor, taunting them, and they'll probably spend a while trying to figure out a software fix. Check out the video above to see it in action.

Turn Their Internet Upside Down

This is the other tough one to pull off, but if you have the know-how and the perseverance, the utter bewilderment on your victim's face will make it all worth the while. You'll need administrative access to the network you're on, and a few scripts to pull it off, but once you're done, you can essentially flip every image on all web pages a particular computer visits. We've featured this one before too, but it's just too funny to leave out—here are the full instructions for those truly dedicated to April Tomfoolery.

These are just a few of our favorites we've seen over the years, but there are countless different geeky pranks you can play on unsuspecting, less tech-savvy coworkers. Try these on for size as you prepare for April Fools' Day for tomorrow, or share your own favorite pranks in the comments below.